


The Way Things Change

by LittleDidTheyKnow



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, ultra fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-31 20:58:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12141009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleDidTheyKnow/pseuds/LittleDidTheyKnow
Summary: Tumblr prompt request for irelandhoneybee: "things you said as we danced in our socks."Takes place about a year after the events of the Defenders and the Punisher.





	The Way Things Change

**Author's Note:**

  * For [irelandhoneybee](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=irelandhoneybee).



> I mention some songs in this fic. I would really recommend listening to #2-4 when they come up because I wrote the story to flow with them, but do what you gotta do. 
> 
> Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/2jKetTI  
> Youtube Playlist: http://bit.ly/2wxuVg6

Karen Page was obsessed with men's dress socks.

She didn't know it until about a year into her relationship with Matt Murdock, but the moment she saw the men's dress sock table at the department store, she fell in love.

The reasons they were shopping for him that day were important.

Because Matt Murdock was down to just a few work shirts that didn't have blood stains on them. He was also running out of undershirts and day-to-day t-shirts that didn't have blood stains on them, but she was careful not to tell him that anymore. Each time she pointed it out, he made a joke, which then made her angry and ended with her telling him that he should probably become better at not getting stabbed or search for a new vigilante profession.

Matt picked her up from work under the impression that they were going to get dinner, but she walked him right into a department store where they could buy semi-affordable shirts and grabbed ten different shirts in various sizes and brands for him to try on.

He opened his mouth to argue as she walked him back to the dressing rooms, but she did that thing he hated where she answered a question he didn’t ask and used her scary nice voice, this time just above a whisper:

"Your girlfriend spends most nights worrying about whether or not you'll bleed to death, but that's not enough- no, she has to see the blood stains on your shirts every time you come home from work and take your suit jacket off because you’d rather hide them under your coat at work instead of retiring them or just, you know, not get stabbed!”

He bit his lip and nodded as she shoved him into a dressing room. That was a long sentence for Karen Page. She let the anger take over the side of her that was succinct and to the point. He didn’t want to see what came next.

“I promise we’ll pick colors and prints that will fit into your repertoire of sexy lawyer suits, Murdock,” she said as she leaned over on a stool outside his room and opened an email on her phone. He took off his coat and shirt and buttoned up a new one, squinting as he felt the material. This was definitely a “no.”

“You know, I've figured out a way to avoid all of this misery you're going through,” he said as he opened the door and looked handsome as ever. She sighed happily as she took him in and he wiggled his thumb for a thumbs up or thumbs down.

She got up and checked the sizing by running her hands up his sides to see the fit. This one had a rougher quality to it, and she knew his sensitivity toward fabric would put this in the “no” pile. She tilted his hand so that his thumb was pointing down.

“That’s the biggest size I grabbed and you definitely should go tighter. And we should avoid that brand,” she said as she bit her lip. "And what is your suggestion for making your girlfriend happier? Is it fighting crime while you’re rolled in bubble wrap?” She said as he started to unbutton the shirt.

"Well, the way I see it, if I’m upsetting you so much when I take my suits off, I could just wear them all the time and not put you through that..." He smiled innocently and turned around, but she surprised him by slipping into the dressing room before the door closed and he turned around as she backed him into a corner. His facial expression told her he was a mixture of scared and aroused as she pulled him by the collar and spoke to him in her semi-serious voice.

"Matt Murdock, don't you dare suggest something that will take the joy out of _my_ life because _you_ aren't careful. I already suffer enough."

He chuckled nervously, but she knew he was enjoying this more than he let on.

"I'm so sorry, love of my life. Please forgive me for suggesting something so ridiculous." He smiled from ear to ear and pulled her against him, kissing her fully and completely distracting her from the task at hand. He found his way underneath her shirt and she moaned quietly and then remembered where they were.

"Nice try, Murdock,” she threw her hands in the air and walked away. “I can't believe I played right into your hand."

She reached for the door. "Sometimes you are too easy, Page."

"Yeah but you like that about me," she said as the door slammed behind her.

Matt tried on a few more shirts and found a brand that felt good against his skin and fit correctly. She left him in the dressing room to put his clothes back on and quickly found ten shirts that weren’t flashy and went well with gray and navy. She did her best not to deviate from his original wardrobe, knowing that his former shirts could go with every suit he owned, and his ties were pretty nondescript so that they coordinated as well.

It took her some time to figure this out, though. Back when she was the secretary for Nelson & Murdock, she gave him a tie as a gift and told him that it would bring out his eyes. He smiled as he removed the one he was wearing to prove that he appreciated his gift, but she noticed that he seemed self-conscious about it. He tried in the nicest way possible to suss out if it would go with his other clothes. Sometimes he had to remind her that he was blind, and she tried like hell to make that happen as little as possible.

They carried the pile of shirts toward the cashier, and Karen was impressed at how little he protested. He was finally doing well enough financially to be able to afford this shopping trip, so he wasn't worried about money for once. That was, until she found a table that was covered in dress socks.

"Oh my God, Matt, these are adorable!" She let go of his hand and thrust her heap of shirts into his arms. In just seconds, she was giggling at her assortment of colorful dress socks. She grabbed one of his hands and ran his fingers over her favorite pair. "These have puppies on them, Matt. Puppies!" He snorted as he felt the indented fabric.

"Are you suggesting that I wear puppy dog socks to court, Ms. Page?"

"No..." she said sadly as she sat them down. "What about pretty blue triangles?"

"The blue triangles we could probably get away with. People don't really see my socks anyway."

"Yeah, but _I_ would see them all the time." She said with a smile across her face.

"You would." He kissed her nose. "Pick some out, Page."

She looked down at the pile in her hand took a beat. "This kind of goes against the Matt Murdock wardrobe, though." She didn't want him to worry about his socks not matching, even if she made sure that didn't happen. "And I'm realizing that it's pretty selfish."

"Karen Page, your boyfriend doesn't mind if you enjoy seeing him in colorful socks. And you are the least selfish person I've ever met. Pick some out." She jumped happily for a second and looked through her options. She told him what each of them looked like and he agreed with all of her favorites.

"How many do we have?" He asked as she put her final choice in her arms.

"Ummm... 9?" She sat the pile on the edge of the table as he tilted his head toward her.

" _Nine_? Aren't these things like $12 each?"

“They’re on sale, Murdock…” she said carefully.

“Oh, then, by all means, let’s buy them all!”

She laughed. “They’re on sale for $8 dollars each. And I have a coupon for 15% off.”

“So you want to spend $60 on socks. Let’s just be clear here.”

“It _could_ be $108.” He laughed loudly and a woman standing ten feet away looked at them like they were 12 years old and making a scene, causing Karen to snicker. “I say spend whatever you want to spend, Matt. They’re your feet.” She kissed his cheek and he knew right then that he was going to spend $60 on socks.

“Grab the pile,” he said laughing. He walked away from the table as she picked them back up. “Don’t forget the puppies.” He said without looking back.

She giggled as she picked up the puppy pair and ran after him.

*****

Karen dropped her bags and collapsed on Matt’s couch.

It was 7:30 PM and she was tired and starving. She turned on the speaker that connected to her phone and pressed play on a playlist, not even realizing that there was no sound coming from the speaker. It had been a long day.

Matt sat the food on the coffee table and grabbed the bags and took them to his bedroom. Karen got up to get plates and silverware from the kitchen and returned to the living room, eager to begin eating. She dished up a plate for each of them and took off her pantyhose before checking her email as she waited patiently for her boyfriend to come back to her.

“Karen Page,” he said sweetly, and she lowered her phone to see him bent down on one knee and holding his arm behind his back.

This was no surprise. She knew he wasn’t going to propose anytime soon, and this was his favorite way of messing with her.

“ _Ye_ _s_ , Matthew Murdock!” She said excitedly.

His smile grew wider as he grabbed her hand with the hand that wasn’t behind his back. “Will you please,” he kissed it. “Accept,” another kiss. “This bouquet of men’s socks that you convinced me to buy?”

He pulled out the 9 pairs of socks, which no longer had tags and had been gathered together to form a makeshift bouquet.

She giggled as she took them from him, seeing that he had tied one around the middle to hold them together. “They’re beautiful!” She said with a genuine happiness. She kissed him and looked over her wise purchase.

“Oh no,” her tone changed as she searched through the bouquet.

“What is it?”

“The puppies aren’t here. They must not have been rung up.”

“Well let’s go back then,” he said as she hunched her shoulders sadly.

“It’s no big deal.” She reached for her plate, but he stopped her hand. She looked down at him and wondered why he was still on one knee.

“What?” she said nervously.

He reached behind his back again and she held her breath as he pulled out the puppy dog socks and smiled from ear to ear.

She sighed in relief. “Good one, Murdock. You nearly had me there,” she laughed nervously as he rolled a sock onto each foot.

He got up and moved to the couch and she stuck her feet into the air and giggled at the different dogs that decorated each foot.

“You want to keep the puppies for yourself, Page?”

“Really?!?” She threw her arms around him and hugged him hard enough to take his breath away. He laughed as she pulled away and grabbed her food. Moments like these always reminded him of why he loved her.

They ate their food quietly and Karen leaned back once she was done and saw the back of her boyfriend’s shirt, which, no surprise, had a blood stain.

She shook her head as she touched the spot where he had previously bled. Hopefully, it’d take a lot longer for his new shirts to be so stained the dark color didn’t wash away. He leaned back and wrapped his arm around her and kissed her forehead.

“It’s been a lot better lately, baby. The new suit is much safer, and I don’t take hits like I used to.”

She nodded her head against his neck. “I know. I just hate it when you get hurt.”

“You’re going to have to deal with me being around for a lot longer, darling. The stakes are much higher now that you’re in my life. It took some time, but I’m not nearly as stupid as I used to be, and that’s all because of you.”

She looked up at him and saw a huge smile on his face. She kissed him and slumped back against him and saw his feet on the corner of the table. “I never realized how sad your socks were before...” She said as she picked up the bouquet that was at her side. She raised it to her nose and took a giant whiff.

“Pick a new pair, Page,” he said laughing. He pulled his old socks off and she removed the blue triangle pair and handed them to him.

“Blue triangles it is!” she said happily.

He lifted them into the air like she had done just minutes before and she laughed as he wiggled his toes.

“Better?”

“Much.” She pulled him by the loosened tie and kissed him.

*****

Karen worked next to a small lamp in the otherwise dark apartment, transcribing her notes and crossing them out as they were entered into her laptop. The food had been put away, the dishes cleaned, and she and Matt were working on the couch. He read a case file that bored the hell out of him and gave up after an hour, tossing it on the coffee table. He put his feet up and sunk into the couch with his eyes closed.

She bit on the end of her pen cap as she read over what she had just typed and felt his hand as it rubbed her knee. She looked up at his feet and saw them dancing on the table and it made her smile. Karen leaned over and kissed his forehead and went back to work.

His feet continued dancing as she typed, and the little blue triangles made him even more adorable.

“You make my dreams come true.” He said matter of factly.

"Well thank you." She said as she scratched out a note.

Matt leaned over and found the remote to the speaker and turned it up. She lit up when she heard Hall & Oates come on. She had forgotten that she turned the music on, but she was lucky enough to have a boyfriend with enhanced hearing.

To an outsider, it would make more sense for the girlfriend of a vigilante to care more about the illegal activity than music taste, But Karen Page wasn’t an ordinary woman. Music was everything to her, and her boyfriend had a wide-ranging taste, just like her. He liked music from every genre, and he appreciated sappy love songs just as much as he liked classical or indie music. He liked everything.

Over the course of their year together, Matt had memorized most of Karen’s playlists, an impressive feat considering how many she had. There was almost always music playing in their apartment. She organized them by mood, and her go-to these days was her “love” playlist. He didn’t get tired of hearing it. A small part of him worried that it would mean something if she switched to a different playlist, but he knew that was ridiculous.

Karen closed her laptop and sat it under the coffee table. She leaned against him and grabbed his hand, placing her feet next to his. They danced on the edge of the table, bumping their socks into one another every time they leaned in for a kiss and causing Karen to giggle.

“You’re an even better dancer now that your feet are colorful.” She said as they moved their shoulders against each other and increased the speed of their feet with the tempo.

“You make me a better person every day, Karen Page.”

She laughed at what she thought was a joke, because of the cheesiness of the song and their dancing feet, but he placed his finger underneath her chin and kissed her softly. She leaned against him as the song ended, and he found the remote and skipped the next several songs. That was the unspoken rule. She picked the playlist and he had control over the remote.

Karen lit up and looked over at him as “Rivers and Roads” by the Head and the Heart came on.

“Get up Page.”

“Really?”

“We both know you can’t sit down during this song.”

He opened his hand up to her and she grabbed it and he led her behind the couch.

Matt lifted his left hand up and she took it as they made it to their impromptu dance floor, placing her other hand on his shoulder. They moved slowly to the beat as she kissed his cheek.

She never grew tired of this song, and he’d walked in on her swaying to it as she washed dishes or worked on an article. She sang it in the shower or as she made breakfast. Sitting or standing, she was always dancing.

She thought over the last two years. They’d had bumpy moments in their friendship and the first time they took the steps to make it something more. But when they started dating for real, it all melted away. Because she nearly lost him for good after Midland Circle. And when he came back to her, she realized the past didn't matter anymore.

She was more careful the second time around, though, worried that he’d abandon her at the first sign of trouble in his other life. It took some time, but she started to trust him again. 

Because after all of his mistakes, Matt did everything he could to prove to her that he wasn’t going to half-ass anything this time. He started off slow, trying to date at her pace and keep the right amount of distance so that he didn't scare her away. She started to notice the little things that he did to make her feel at home. During their first week together, he made it evident that he wanted her around, buying necessities like her favorite soaps and fabric softener to stocking his kitchen with her favorite coffee and snacks. He never shied away from commitment because he had never been surer of anything in his life. He wanted to be with her.

“ _Been talking bout the way things chaaaaaange_ _.”_

He dipped her as they sang the lyrics together, and pulled her back up into a kiss.

She wasn’t able to distance herself for long. Soon she was coming over at every free moment, knowing he wouldn’t be there until pretty late most nights because he was out, but waiting for him just the same. 

She tried her best not to scare him off, always bringing a bag with her necessities instead of leaving them around his apartment. But his dresser was half-filled with her clothes after two months. She came over one day and he had two baskets filled with his laundry and there were three empty drawers waiting for her. They were always tiptoeing around each other when they both wanted the same things.

_Ohhhhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhhhh Ohhhhh_

She hummed with him, raising her voice as the song louder and kissing him every time he spun her away and she came back to him.

They weren’t conventional and they knew it. She was over at his place more than her own because it was the only way she could see him when he was off saving the world. And the fact that he was the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen only made her love him more. He was always her hero, long before she knew that Matt Murdock and Daredevil were the same person.

He asked her to move in after they’d dated for six months, and she happily agreed. But she noticed soon after that he was somehow more nervous, and she always got the feeling that he was worried that she’d up and leave.

Maybe it was the idea that he’d come home and half of everything would be gone. His closet, the bathroom cabinet, her desk. Maybe he realized that it would hurt that much more if he lost her and had a daily reminder. But she did her best to make him realize that she was there to stay.

Because she wasn’t like his ex-girlfriend or his mother or Stick. She loved him for everything that he was and everything that he wanted to be. And she tried her best to make him realize that she was there to stay. And sometimes that meant leaving her socks in the living room or being a little messier than usual to remind him that to her, this was home. She loved it when he got a little annoyed because it meant that he had relaxed just a little.

He twirled her and kissed her neck.

They were meant to be together. He had saved her more times than she could count, but he knew that it was actually she who had saved him. She made him remember the good side of humanity and the good side of himself. She convinced him that it wasn’t just the dark side of himself that made him want to take down criminals. Daredevil wasn’t just an outlet for his anger. He truly cared about people. Sometimes it was easy to forget that.

To him, Karen Page was perfect. Even when she doubted herself, even when she stressed about the little things. Karen Page made him realize what it was like to be really, truly loved. It had been a long time since he’d had that feeling and believed it wouldn’t just up and disappear.

The song slowed down as the singers sang over just a drum beat, and she tilted her head against his forehead and kissed him.

_“Rivers and Roads, Rivers and Roads, Rivers till I reach you”_

He didn’t know it until a few months into their relationship, but she was just as broken as he was. She had experienced loss and fear and come out on the other side of everything a stronger person. And she needed him to remind her that yes, she’d made mistakes, but she had always thought she was doing the right thing at the time. They were a part of her past, and she was changing the world for the better.

Matt lifted her into the air and kissed her.

He’d made so many mistakes and somehow his reward was this woman loving him? No matter how many times he listened to her heartbeat as she said it, he couldn’t believe it.

*

Karen looked across the living room in confusion as “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” came on. “I don’t remember this song being on this playlist…” she said. She usually grouped songs that could transition into each other and still make sense. And Sinatra never played after an indie song. Never.

Matt shrugged his shoulders grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him. They danced around the dark living room faster than before, and Matt twirled her so that her dress spread out like a flower with each movement. Her cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling.

He’d learned about her love for Sinatra early on. He came home from Daredevilling one night and she was laying in the dark with a glass of wine listening to this song a little louder than the neighbors would have liked and singing just as loud. That was their first dance, actually. An unmasked Daredevil with his girlfriend dancing to Frank Sinatra in a dark apartment.

She thought about that moment all the time and smiled. How ridiculous and wonderful it probably looked. Then she thought about Frank Sinatra in a world of superheroes and it made her laugh even harder. The world had really changed.

She didn’t know if he actually liked listening to the old standards. But on a rough day he was always the one to suggest Sinatra or watching an old movieand he'd pull out a chinese take-out menu so that she could order egg flower soup. When he was having a rough day it was  _The Wizard of Oz,_  cinnamon rolls, and matzo ball soup from the Jewish deli around the corner.

They needed to be near each other when they were down. Even if it was a side-effect from a fight between the two of them. Being more than a room away from each other when one of them was upset wasn't an option.

Karen had never known anyone who put as much care into making her feel happy and safe. Her family life hadn’t been easy, but with him… She really thought that having a family could be different. That she could be happy. And he already had everything he'd ever hoped for. His best memories from childhood were when it was just him and his dad. After he died, he couldn't imagine ever feeling like he belonged to something that mattered. But she quickly proved him wrong.

She smiled at how effortlessly she moved across the room, sliding in her socks as she rolled away from him, only to be pulled back into his arms.

The song sped up and he started singing her favorite part as she giggled,

 _"I would sacrifice anything come what might_  
_For the sake of havin' you near_  
_In spite of the warning voice that comes in the night_  
_And repeats - how it yells in my ear:_

 _Don't you know, little fool, you never can win?_  
_Why not use your mentality - step up, wake up to reality?_  
_But each time I do just the thought of you_  
_Makes me stop just before I begin_  
_'Cause I've got you under my skin."_

He was the one constant in her life, and he did everything he could to make her smile, and that brought tears to her eyes.

He dipped her with ease and gave her a kiss, running his hand over the side of her face and pulling her back to him as the song came to a close. Sometimes he took her breath away, and this was definitely one of those times.

They ended up cheek to cheek and she kissed him once the song played out. “That was my favorite dance, Matt Murdock. I’m so lucky to have you.”

“I’m the lucky one, Page.”

He reached up to her face and kissed her slowly. They both didn’t think they deserved each other. And they probably never would.

He twirled her as another, slower song came on and she stopped and looked in the direction of the couch. Gene Kelly’s voice came over the speaker singing a song from _An American in Paris_ : “Our Love is Here to Stay.”

She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Now I _know_ this song isn’t on this playlist. Do you think there’s something wrong with the-” She turned around and didn't see him. Then she looked down.

Matt Murdock was down on one knee, with a small royal blue box in his hand and tears in his eyes.

A loud gasp came out of her mouth, and she wouldn’t have believed it had come from her if she wasn’t the only person in the room with her mouth open.

“Baby, I…”

Karen raised her hand to her mouth as her own eyes filled with tears.

“Karen,” he took a gulp. He didn’t feel like he could speak.

She looked down at his hands and saw that they were shaking. She grabbed the one that wasn’t holding a ring box and rubbed it between her fingers. “Karen, I-I love you.”

“I love you too, Matt.” She said as the tears streamed down her face.

“And I can’t imagine living in a world without you.” She sniffled. “You are without a doubt, the reason I’m happy to get up every morning, and I... I would love nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you….”

She sniffled once more as he squeezed her hand and opened her mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. She wiped her eyes with one hand and before taking a breath, and Matt Murdock would later remember this moment as one of the longest of his life.

“That would make me so happy!” She said and her quiet crying turned to loud sobs. He abandoned the ring on the floor and stood up, grabbing her face with both hands as she wrapped her hands around his neck. Their tears mixed together as they kissed in the dark, and he held the back of her head in his hands until they broke apart, kissing her cheeks and forehead.

She sniffled once more and wiped away her tears. “Oh.” he said as she squeezed his hand without thinking. He bent down and grabbed the box quickly, and his hands continued to shake as he reopened it. She stood motionless as she looked at the diamond, which sparkled in the lowlight of the lamp as he removed it and put it on her finger. She smiled as she saw his hand holding hers with the new addition.

Karen jumped up and hugged him, and he lowered her slowly to the ground. She placed her left hand on his chest and he grabbed it with his own, rubbing her newly adorned ring finger as she cried against his shoulder and they swayed to the music.


End file.
